What's the point of developers releasing their older titles on Steam if they aren't going to fix old bugs?

[Locut0s]

So the other day I discovered that Titan's Quest was available on Steam. This is great I said to myself! I bought the game in a bargain bin about a year ago and loved playing the first act until the game started to crash. I did some research and it turns out the problem was the game's age. When it was programmed multiple cores were not around yet so obviously they didn't take that into account. Now it turns out you can get around this problem by assigning the game to one core. However it appears that the graphics card I have also causes the game problems, again too new. Anyway the combo of the two makes the game repeatedly crash to the desktop and renders it unplayable. Well that's that I though not much I can do about it now since the developer stopped support for the game. Then I see that they are re releasing it on Steam. Great I thought surely this is an updated version of the game then made to run on more modern hardware! Well a quick trip to the Steam forums for the game puts that hope to rest. There are a number of posters there with the same issues. Why the fuck would you re release a game years latter and not fix bugs with the game that prevent it from running on many of the systems that exist now!?

 

[shortylickens]

I found that out the hard way too. Not with Titan Quest I already had that on DVD and it works fine for me. But theres a bunch of other games I played that either dont work or freeze my system. Apparantly they JUST post the game online. Theres no promise of support or enhanced versions or anything like that.
I think a lot of folks were complaining about the same issue with Masquerade. You still have to do all the bullshit home fixes to get it working. It would seem as if STEAM expects you to magically have a Pentium 3 and Windows 98 on the same system you have a Phenom and Vista, because thats the only way many of the older titles will work.
I think a lot of folks learned that with either Deus Ex or Deus Ex 2, I forget which one Steam has. But I hate the fact they are milking every last dollar from people with these huge game libraries and not actually supporting any except Valve games.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Duh. Mo' Money.

 

[Elcs]

Didn't Iron Lore go bust not long after TQ:IT was released? Ergo they are not around to fix these "bugs". Titan Quest DVD version runs fine on my Dual Core and HD4870 which are relatively new too. Some unusual performance issues which I have read are quite typical for TQ anyway.

You could set Affinity to one core only and find the latest fan patch which should fix your problems.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I had issues with X-com when I first bought it, but they eventually did something that got the dosbox settings just right and it just runs now. Doubt that'll happen with TQ though.

 

[bobross419]

Originally posted by: GullyFoyle
Duh. Mo' Money.

Ya... seems like a no brainer to me too Gully lol

 

[lupi]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[TheKub]

Hmm. I dont recall having that many issues with my TQ install when I bought it from Steam (a while ago). Yeah, I crashed to desktop every once and a while but nothing to the degree that made the game "unplayable". That was on a core2duo and an 8800gt card.

But I agree with you I bought Max Payne on a Steam sale (couldnt find my discs after college) tried to replay the game on vista and all the sounds during the cut scenes were gone and all other sounds in game were cutoff or echo-y. After a bit of research I found that it wasnt the Steam version soley, all versions didnt like vista and had to wind up running some script that converted all the sound files to play nice.

I've yet to buy anything from GOG but they make sure the games play nice with modern OS and hardware. (though that is likely through virtualization not patching code)

 

[PingSpike]

Yeah, its fairly lame. One would assume they had access to the source code, and since the fans could fix the bugs with that if they had its pretty frustrating to see nothing more then a dump and cash grab job. A lot of the bugs are common graphic card change problems that occur throughout many older titles as well. If they aren't going to fix them what exactly am I buying? I'd pay money to rebuy a game I already owned (and loved) if they fixed it to work on modern hardware.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

$$$

 

[JTsyo]

What's worse is that now they can also give you the run around. You post an issue in their support section and they refer you to Steam support instead. Ran into this with Universe at War.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Locut0s
So the other day I discovered that Titan's Quest was available on Steam. This is great I said to myself! I bought the game in a bargain bin about a year ago and loved playing the first act until the game started to crash. I did some research and it turns out the problem was the game's age. When it was programmed multiple cores were not around yet so obviously they didn't take that into account. Now it turns out you can get around this problem by assigning the game to one core. However it appears that the graphics card I have also causes the game problems, again too new. Anyway the combo of the two makes the game repeatedly crash to the desktop and renders it unplayable. Well that's that I though not much I can do about it now since the developer stopped support for the game. Then I see that they are re releasing it on Steam. Great I thought surely this is an updated version of the game then made to run on more modern hardware! Well a quick trip to the Steam forums for the game puts that hope to rest. There are a number of posters there with the same issues. Why the fuck would you re release a game years latter and not fix bugs with the game that prevent it from running on many of the systems that exist now!?

uh, what? are we talking about Titan Quest, the game that's like Diablo but set in ancient Greek or Roman times that was made by Iron Lore?

the game runs fine on multi-core cpus, at least on dual core anyway. and how "new" of a video card do you have? I have a hard time believing it's your "new' hardware that is causing the problem if we're talking about the same game.

 

[jdjbuffalo]

I downloaded TQ from Steam and other than an occasional crash to the desktop, I never had any major issues.

As you can see from my sig, I have modern hardware and I have no problems.

 

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: GullyFoyle
Duh. Mo' Money.

 

[vj8usa]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Locut0s
So the other day I discovered that Titan's Quest was available on Steam. This is great I said to myself! I bought the game in a bargain bin about a year ago and loved playing the first act until the game started to crash. I did some research and it turns out the problem was the game's age. When it was programmed multiple cores were not around yet so obviously they didn't take that into account. Now it turns out you can get around this problem by assigning the game to one core. However it appears that the graphics card I have also causes the game problems, again too new. Anyway the combo of the two makes the game repeatedly crash to the desktop and renders it unplayable. Well that's that I though not much I can do about it now since the developer stopped support for the game. Then I see that they are re releasing it on Steam. Great I thought surely this is an updated version of the game then made to run on more modern hardware! Well a quick trip to the Steam forums for the game puts that hope to rest. There are a number of posters there with the same issues. Why the fuck would you re release a game years latter and not fix bugs with the game that prevent it from running on many of the systems that exist now!?

uh, what? are we talking about Titan Quest, the game that's like Diablo but set in ancient Greek or Roman times that was made by Iron Lore?

the game runs fine on multi-core cpus, at least on dual core anyway. and how "new" of a video card do you have? I have a hard time believing it's your "new' hardware that is causing the problem if we're talking about the same game.

Yeah, that's what I was wondering too. Titan Quest came out over a year AFTER consumer dual core CPUs hit the market (Athlon 64 X2 and Pentium D were both out in May '05).

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Locut0s
So the other day I discovered that Titan's Quest was available on Steam. This is great I said to myself! I bought the game in a bargain bin about a year ago and loved playing the first act until the game started to crash. I did some research and it turns out the problem was the game's age. When it was programmed multiple cores were not around yet so obviously they didn't take that into account. Now it turns out you can get around this problem by assigning the game to one core. However it appears that the graphics card I have also causes the game problems, again too new. Anyway the combo of the two makes the game repeatedly crash to the desktop and renders it unplayable. Well that's that I though not much I can do about it now since the developer stopped support for the game. Then I see that they are re releasing it on Steam. Great I thought surely this is an updated version of the game then made to run on more modern hardware! Well a quick trip to the Steam forums for the game puts that hope to rest. There are a number of posters there with the same issues. Why the fuck would you re release a game years latter and not fix bugs with the game that prevent it from running on many of the systems that exist now!?

uh, what? are we talking about Titan Quest, the game that's like Diablo but set in ancient Greek or Roman times that was made by Iron Lore?

the game runs fine on multi-core cpus, at least on dual core anyway. and how "new" of a video card do you have? I have a hard time believing it's your "new' hardware that is causing the problem if we're talking about the same game.

Yes Titan Quest.
Early versions of the game had problems with multicore systems. I know because I moved from a single to dual core while I was playing it. You have to uncheck 1 CPU in your Task Manager to get it working right.
BUT, with patches or the expansion, the game should be OK with any system.
Most video cards should not have any incompatibilities provided they meet the system requirements and you have the latest drivers.
And "latest" isnt too important because ATI and Nvidia should have fixed most of the issues years ago.

 

[BudAshes]

there are fan patches that fix titan quest/expansion.

 

[exar333]

$$$$

 

[Lonyo]

www.gog.com

 

[JoshGuru7]

I replayed through TQ and the expansion last month with an i7 and a GTX 295. I had a couple of crashes over 20+ hours, but no more than it crashed on me when I first got it. It's just a buggy game IMO. It would be nice added value if Valve would go through everything and troubleshoot bugs in Vista/Win7 but it's slightly unreasonable to expect them to be patching other developers code. Setting up DOSBox for XCOM is more in line with my expectations for their support of legacy games.

I really can't criticize Valve for trying to earn money, if only because that's how they pay their employees and I happen to be an employee who likes getting paid. It would feel kinda funny trying to hold a software developer to a higher set of priorities then my own, but I guess that's just me.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: JoshGuru7
I replayed through TQ and the expansion last month with an i7 and a GTX 295. I had a couple of crashes over 20+ hours, but no more than it crashed on me when I first got it. It's just a buggy game IMO. It would be nice added value if Valve would go through everything and troubleshoot bugs in Vista/Win7 but it's slightly unreasonable to expect them to be patching other developers code. Setting up DOSBox for XCOM is more in line with my expectations for their support of legacy games.

I really can't criticize Valve for trying to earn money, if only because that's how they pay their employees and I happen to be an employee who likes getting paid. It would feel kinda funny trying to hold a software developer to a higher set of priorities then my own, but I guess that's just me.

Valve/Steam is just acting as an Outlet in these situations. The Developer/Publisher/whomever Released on Steam is who should be fixing those problems.

 

[Liet]

Originally posted by: JoshGuru7It's just a buggy game IMO. It would be nice added value if Valve would go through everything and troubleshoot bugs in Vista/Win7 but it's slightly unreasonable to expect them to be patching other developers code. Setting up DOSBox for XCOM is more in line with my expectations for their support of legacy games.

I'm with you on both points. TQ is just plain buggy - great fun, especially with a good friend, but buggy.

Like Josh, I also don't expect Valve to work on other developer's code. They're simply offering me (cheaply, too) the game through their store, as buggy or bug-free as the game was when it was originally available.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: JoshGuru7
I replayed through TQ and the expansion last month with an i7 and a GTX 295. I had a couple of crashes over 20+ hours, but no more than it crashed on me when I first got it. It's just a buggy game IMO. It would be nice added value if Valve would go through everything and troubleshoot bugs in Vista/Win7 but it's slightly unreasonable to expect them to be patching other developers code. Setting up DOSBox for XCOM is more in line with my expectations for their support of legacy games.

I really can't criticize Valve for trying to earn money, if only because that's how they pay their employees and I happen to be an employee who likes getting paid. It would feel kinda funny trying to hold a software developer to a higher set of priorities then my own, but I guess that's just me.

Valve/Steam is just acting as an Outlet in these situations. The Developer/Publisher/whomever Released on Steam is who should be fixing those problems.

As was already pointed out, the people who made Titan Quest went out of business.

I think thats the real gripe here. Valve has no problem making a profit off a game that cant be fixed anymore.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: GullyFoyle
Duh. Mo' Money.

$$$$

 

[KentState]

I'm having similar issues with the older Red Faction games. Steam was running a pre-order deal where I got Red Faction 1 and 2 additional, but #2 complains that I don't have enough video card memory.